With Helmut Marko being the latest Red Bull member to depart from the team, Ted Kravitz has highlighted one crucial figure at Milton Keynes who they can’t afford to lose.
Since the beginning of the 2024 F1 season, the number of Red Bull members who have departed from important positions at the team can be seen as a concern for the future trajectory.
Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley were two of the more high-profile exits to have occurred in the years prior to Helmut Marko’s retirement, and, of course, the sacking of Christian Horner that took the F1 paddock by storm.
It begs the question of how many more departures from key personnel the team can afford.
Max Verstappen’s future at the team is based on results, so if the owners are convinced of retaining the four-time world champion, Ted Kravitz is certain about them needing to keep one key figure.
Ted Kravitz says it would be an ‘issue’ for Red Bull if Hannah Schmitz decided to leave the team
Speaking in an episode of The F1 Show podcast, Kravitz was discussing Marko’s recent exit with his co-presenters Simon Lazenby and Karun Chandhok.
The pitlane reporter drew attention to one key figure of Red Bull’s setup who plays an integral part in the trackside operations, and someone who they definitely cannot afford to let go.
Kravitz said, “This next step, I mean, you say what you want about Helmut Marko, but maybe it was his time to retire.
“This next step of engineering, Mekies can just about hold that together. Pierre Wache seems to be safe at the moment.
“They’ve lost Will Courtenay, the strategy guy, but Hannah Schmitz is an able leader of that department. If she were to go, I think that would be an issue.”
Schmitz has been a crucial driver of Red Bull’s success in recent years, due to her impressive split-second decision-making that has decided races in favour of the Austrian constructor on countless occasions.
She has been credited with a number of victories that looked to have been against the odds, with the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and 2021 French Grand Prix only being a couple of examples.
Ted Kravitz names the one person who could possibly replace Max Verstappen’s race engineer,
Verstappen’s long-time race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, has found his name appear in the rumour mill for a potential change in role at the team following the conclusion of the 2025 campaign.
The Brit has been with the four-time world champion since his very first race with Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, a race that cemented Verstappen in F1 folklore after he became the youngest ever winner in the sport at just 18 years old.
If ‘GP’ was to move on from his role as the Dutchman’s right-hand man, Kravitz has difficulty in identifying who a good successor would be for him, theorising about it in The F1 Show.
He said, “The GP thing, that relationship is so deep. I’ve been thinking about this since that news came out on Sunday and thinking, who could replace an engineer like GP?
“And the only one I can think of, actually, is Rocky, Guillaume Rocquelin, because he’s got the experience, the know-how in Red Bull and the grit to make that relationship work and the respect.
“I can’t think of too many engineers up and down who could actually do that job.”
- READ MORE: Red Bull sent one ‘obvious’ message to McLaren during their podium celebrations at Qatar Grand Prix
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
